Paramount, Bad Robot Set Scribes For 'Boilerplate'

EXCLUSIVE: Paramount Pictures and JJ Abrams’ Bad Robot have hired JD Payne and Patrick McKay to write the script for Boilerplate, based on the Paul Guinan and Anina Bennett graphic novel Boilerplate: History’s Mechanical Marvel. Bad Robot will produce with Outlaw Productions’ Deborah Newmyer. The storyline: the robot Boilerplate was built in the late 19th Century to replace men in battle. The robot is depicted in the Spanish-American War and WWI, and is pictured Zelig-like in meetings with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt and Mark Twain.

The writers got on the map by scripting Goliath, the Old Testament tale that Relativity Media is developing, with speculation that Dwayne Johnson and Taylor Lautner could play the two main characters. They are also scripting Deadliest Warrior, based on the Spike TV series, which Shawn Levy is producing for Paramount. The scribes are repped by UTA and Kaplan/Perrone.